


The Ties that Bind

by sartiebodyshots



Category: Falling Skies
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 16:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3417554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben and Matt are walking back to camp when a skitter shows up and uses Ben to get to Matt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ties that Bind

            Ben is walking with Matt back to camp when he feels a familiar sensation sweep over him.  His spikes start tingling as something reaches into his skull.  Everything in his body stiffens and he can’t move anything.  He hates this, hates being a puppet. 

            Not being able to move anything isn’t the worst part, though.  He can feel the cold malevolence of the mind controlling his body and it only takes a second for him to realize what its plan is. 

            “Matthew,” he hears his own voice say. 

            Matt turns to look at him, clearly confused.  “Ben?”

            Ben can’t turn to see it, but through their connection, he can feel the skitter come up behind him.  He wants to shrug off the claw it puts on his shoulder, but he’s helpless.

            “I am using your brother to communicate with you,” it uses him to say. 

            “What do you want?” Matt asks, crossing his arms.  “Let him go.”

            Why isn’t he running?  Matt should be running back to camp to get Dad.  God, Matt, just go.

            Ben fights against its control, trying to get control long enough to yell at Matt to go.

            _It is hopeless._ A voice says dispassionately in his head.  _You are too weak, like the rest of your species.  I will have your brother and the rest of your family as well.  Surrender and it will be easier for you._

            “That is why I am here today.  I don’t want to hurt your brother.  If you come with me, I will leave him alone.”

            He can see Matt thinking it over, much to Ben’s consternation.  This isn’t something that Matt should even think about.

            _Leave him alone!  You can do whatever you want to me, okay?  Take me back to your ship, harness me up again, just leave Matt here._

_I already can do whatever I want to you.  I have total control of your body.  You have nothing to bargain with._

            “What if I don’t come with you?”  Matt asks.

            “I can hurt him worse than you can imagine,” it uses Ben to say.  Then, it opens his mouth and he feels himself screaming in pain.

            Matt is as white as a sheet and he takes a few steps forward, covering his ears.  “Stop it!  Stop it!”

            Ben’s throat is raw when the skitter stops.  He should be panting, but the skitter is holding his body completely still.

            “You’ve gotta let him go,” Matt says, uncovering his ears.  He sounds like he’s about to cry. 

            Ben feels his head tilt, examining Matt dispassionately.  He can’t even look at Matt how he wants to.

            “Of course,” it says.  “Your brother will be free to go if you come with me now.”

            Ben is screaming in his head, trying to find some way to throw off its control, even for a few seconds.  This can’t happen; he can’t let this happen. 

            It’s laughing at him, mocking him because it knows that he’ll never be able to regain control.  As Matt gets closer and closer, Ben fights harder.  Anything but this. 

            Suddenly, he’s screaming with his own voice, falling to his knees.  No time to think, he reaches out to push Matt towards camp.  “Run! Get Dad!”

            Matt stumbles, brow furrowed.  “Are you-?”

            “Go!” Ben yells desperately.

            He falls onto the ground and Ben can feel the skitter reasserting control, crushing him to his will.  It gets his voice box first.  Then, it gets control of the rest of him, leaving him lying on the cold ground, helpless yet again.

            _You are going to regret that.  You will still give us your brother, but it will not be as easy for you._

            Ben lets the skitter feel his contempt and his happiness over having ruined its plan.  It wanted to use him to divide the 2nd Mass.  What could cause more fear than him starting to give up their own?  His brother nonetheless.  But not this time.

            The skitter leans over him, turning him onto his back.  It stops his diaphragm from working and then his nerves feel like they’ve been set aflame.  Ben can’t even move to scream or shake; he’s completely still as it continues to toy with him, letting him breathe just before he’d black out before cutting off his oxygen again.

            It’s a painful loop with no release that feels like it’s going to last forever.  It’s okay, though.  It’s okay because Matt got away. 

            Maybe it’s better this way.  The skitters won’t be able to use him against his family, against the 2nd Mass, if he’s dead. 

            There’s gunfire and someone (Dad!) yelling and he can feel the skitter die and as Ben closes his own eyes and starts screaming in pain with his own voice, he feels alright.  At least he’ll go out as himself.  What else can someone like him ask for in a war like this?

* * *

 

            Tom puts the last bullet in that damn skitter and falls to his knees, Ben screaming and screaming until he falls quiet.  He touches Ben’s cheek and it’s too cold. 

            “Ben!  Ben!  Wake up!” Tom says, full of desperation.

            When Ben stays still, Tom swallows the lump in his throat and gets to his feet.  Scooping his son up as carefully as possible, he starts the walk back to camp.  He wants to run, but he doesn’t know if jostling him will hurt him more.  All he can hear is the ragged sound of Ben’s breathing.

            Ragged breathing is a good thing, Tom reminds himself.  As long as Ben is breathing, Ben is alive and Ben can be helped. 

            “Matt,” Ben murmurs.  “Where’s Matt?”

            “He’s safe back at camp, thanks to you,” Tom tells him urgently.  “You’ve got to hold on so you can see him, okay?  He wants to see you so badly.”

            He had left Matt at camp with Hal, warning Hal to keep an eye on him until he came back with Ben.  The last thing he needs is Matt grabbing a gun and trying to come help.

            Ben slips back into unconsciousness, the tiniest smile on his face, and Tom keeps calling his name, trying to keep from sobbing it.  His boy looks so small and lifeless; his chest is moving slower and slower, and that can’t be a good thing.

            When he reaches camp, Matt runs out to him, Hal not far behind.  Before Matt can reach him, Hal manages to scoop Matt up.  They both look terrified; Hal tries to hide Matt’s eyes, but Matt won’t have it, twisting in his arms.

            Tom lays Ben down carefully on a bed when they reach their makeshift infirmary and Anne gently pushes him out of the way. 

            “What happened?” Anne asks as she starts examining him. 

            It takes Tom a second to find his voice.  “I don’t know.  He was lying still when I found him, and then he started screaming after I shot the skitter.”  He’s aware of Hal holding Matt behind him, so he leans in close to whisper to Anne, “I think it was torturing him.”

            Anne nods without looking up at him before nudging him away again.  It takes ages for Anne to finish examining him, and when he turns to look at Tom, her expression grim. 

            “There’s nothing I can do,” she says. 

            “What do you mean?  You’re a doctor, Anne; there’s gotta be something you can do,” Hal says.

            “Maybe if I had some equipment, something to see what’s happening inside him, I could do something, but for now, we just have to wait and see if he wakes up,” Anne says. 

            “Thanks, Anne,” Tom makes himself say. 

            He steps over to Ben, pushing his hair out of his face gently.  Ben is cold and clammy, but still breathing.  All Tom wants is to keep his kids safe and from the sounds of it, he almost lost two of them tonight.  He might still lose one of them.

            Hal comes over with Matt.  He sets his hand on Ben’s shoulder, thumb running circles.  When Tom glances at him, he sees how intensely he’s watching Ben, sees the tears he’s blinking away harshly. 

            “He doesn’t like sleeping on his back,” Matt says in a small voice.  “Can we put him on his side?”

            “I don’t think so, buddy.  When he wakes up, maybe,” Hal says. 

            “If he wakes up,” Matt says.

* * *

 

            Everything hurts when Ben wakes up, and he’s terrified of where he might be.  But then he remembers Dad carrying him.  Dad had him, so he must be okay now. 

            He can hear three people in the room with him.  His family, or at least he hopes.  Ben tries to open his eyes to see for sure, but his eyelids are too heavy for that.  He can’t say anything, either, and for a second he’s scared that it has control of him again. 

            But there’s no mind touching his, nothing threatening him anymore.  He can still feel the imprint of it, though.  He can feel the evil, and he wonders for the hundredth time whether it leaves a stain on him.  Whether being touched like that by the skitters dirties whatever is inside him (he doesn’t know if he believes in souls or any of that, but if there’s anything inside him, he knows the skitters have touched it). 

            Yeah, it must.  He almost gave his brother to the skitters.  Another thirty seconds and he would have done it.

            There’s something sick and broken inside him that will never get better or fixed.

            Dad adjusts Ben’s body, muttering something about bedsores, and it’s funny.  It’s funny how when _they_ move him around, he just feels dirtier than ever.  But when Dad does this for him- and he still feels so helpless, laying here at someone else’s mercy- he feels like one day he might be a whole person again. 

It’s not the tenderness or the care.  The skitters had been caring when he was harnessed too, in their own way.  Maybe it’s knowing that despite everything that he’s become, his dad still believes in him, somehow.  There’s nothing that Ben wants more than to be able to live up to that, to be worthy of his trust.

Ben tries opening his eyes again and this time, he thinks he can manage it.  With a surge of energy, he does it and he’s looking up into his dad’s face. 

He watches as Dad’s face goes from worry, to shock, to elation.  His hand cups Ben’s cheek and he leans over to press his lips to Ben’s forehead.  There’s a warmth that starts to spread through Ben, sweeping away a coldness that Ben didn’t even know he felt. 

He can feel his body again.  Ben coughs and it feels so sweet to have his lungs filled with too much air.

“Ben!” he says.  “Guys, Ben is awake!”

There’s a scramble of activity and someone climbs up onto his bed.  The weight on his chest makes it hard to breathe, but it’s wonderful because he knows who that weight belongs to.  Ben brings his arms up and feels Matt’s fluffy curls between his fingers. 

“I’m so sorry, Matt,” Ben murmurs, trying not to cry.  “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Lets give him some breathing room, okay?” Hal says, pulling Matt off him.

“No!” Ben reaches for Matt and pulls him back into his lap.  The effort makes the room spin, but he needs to know that Matt is here.  “It’s okay.” 

Matt is clinging to him, fingers digging into his back.  “I didn’t want to leave you there.  I really didn’t.”  He’s whispering into his ear. 

“You did good, Matt.  A real hero,” Ben murmurs. 

“Heroes don’t run away,” Matt whispers.  “They don’t leave their brothers behind.” 

Ben looks up into Dad and Hal’s worried faces.  “Can we have a minute?”

They both look like they want to protest, but they leave anyway. 

“Yell if you need anything, okay?” Dad says before shutting the door.

Matt pulls back and settles onto his lap.  Ben holds Matt’s hands, trying to look reassuring as tries to smile.  It hurts, but he thinks he’s managed a smile at least.

“You did exactly what you were supposed to, Matt.  You got Dad,” Ben says.  “Although next time, you should run right away.”

“It was hurting you, though.  And it hurt you after I ran, didn’t it?” Matt asks.

“You got help, Matt.  Because of you, we’re both okay,” Ben says.

Matt presses himself against Ben again and Ben holds him tight.  “I can hear you screaming.  It won’t go away.”

“Yeah, I know,” Ben says.  He wishes he had something reassuring to say, but there’s nothing.  “Do you want to stay with me tonight?”

Matt nods. 

“We’ll have Dad or Hal get some dinner, we’ll all hang out tonight, and then we can go to sleep,” Ben says.

“Okay.” And Matt sounds listless.

* * *

 

            That night, Matt is snuggled against Ben in his room.  He still feels so scared and it’s _dumb_.  All Matt wants to do is be big and brave like Hal and Ben, but he ran like little kids do.  Ben says it was the right thing to do, but Matt isn’t as sure.  Nobody else would have left him like that. 

            It might be better, except he can hear Ben yelling in pain in his head.  He’s his brother.  Brothers are supposed to protect each other, right?

            Forever later, he’s still awake and he realizes that Ben is awake too. 

            “Am I gonna sleep again?” Matt asks.  It doesn’t feel like it.

            “You will,” Ben says.  “Sometimes when I came back, I thought I’d never sleep again.  But I always did, and you will too.  Maybe not tonight, but some time.  I promise.”

            Matt has gotten so good at knowing when people are lying to him because they think it’s comforting, but there’s something in Ben that feels steady.  Like he’s been there.

            He closes his eyes tight and tries to fall asleep.

 


End file.
